1 Samuel 25

1 Samuel 251599 Geneva Bible (GNV)

1 Then Samuel died, and all Israel assembled, and mourned for him, and buried him in his [a]own house at Ramah. And David arose and went down to the wilderness of Paran.

2 Now in [b]Maon was a man, who had his possession in Carmel, and the man was exceeding mighty, and had three thousand sheep, and a thousand goats, and he was shearing his sheep in Carmel.

3 The name also of the man was Nabal, and the name of his wife Abigail, and she was a woman of singular wisdom, and beautiful, but the man was churlish, and evil conditioned, and was of the family of Caleb.

4 And David heard in the wilderness, that Nabal did shear his sheep.

5 Therefore David sent ten young men, and David said unto the young men, Go up to Carmel, and go to Nabal, and ask him in my name [c]how he doeth.

6 And thus shall ye say [d][e]for salutation, Both thou, and thine house, and all that thou hast, be in peace, wealth and prosperity.

7 Behold, I have heard, that thou hast shearers: now thy shepherds were with us, and we did them no hurt, neither did they miss anything all the while they were in Carmel.

8 Ask thy servants, and they will show thee. Wherefore let these young men find favor in thine eyes: (for we come in a good season) give, I pray thee, whatsoever [f]cometh to thine hand unto thy servants, and to thy son David.

9 ¶ And when David’s young men came, they told Nabal all those words in the name of David, and held their peace.

10 Then Nabal answered David’s servants, and said, Who is David? and who is the [g]son of Jesse? there be many servants nowadays, that break away every man from his master.

11 Shall I then take my bread, and my water, and my flesh that I have killed for my shearers, and give it unto men, whom I know not whence they be?

12 ¶ So David’s servants turned their way, and went again, and came and told him all those things.

13 And David said unto his men, Gird every man his sword about him. And they girded every man his sword: David also girded his sword. And about four hundred men went up after David, and two hundred abode by the [h]carriage.

14 Now one of the servants told Abigail Nabal’s wife, saying, Behold, David sent messengers out of the wilderness to salute our master, and he [i]railed on them.

15 Notwithstanding, the men were very good [j]unto us, and we had no displeasure, neither missed we anything as long as we were conversant with them, when we were in the fields.

16 They were as a wall unto us both by night and by day, all the while we were with them keeping sheep.

17 Now therefore take heed, and see what thou shalt do: for evil [k]will surely come upon our master, and upon all his family: for he is so wicked, that a man cannot speak to him.

18 ¶ Then Abigail made haste, and took two hundred [l]cakes, and two bottles of wine, and five sheep ready dressed, and five measures of parched corn, and an hundred [m]frails of raisins, and two hundred of figs, and laid them on asses.

19 Then she said unto her servants, Go ye before me: behold, I will come after you: yet she told not her [n]husband Nabal.

20 And as she rode on her ass, she came down by a secret place of the mountain, and behold, David and his men came down against her, and she met them.

21 And David said, Indeed I have kept all in vain that this fellow had in the wilderness, so that nothing was missed of all that pertained unto him: for he hath requited me evil for good.

22 So and more also do God unto the enemies of David: for surely I will not leave of all that he hath by the dawning of the day, any that [o]pisseth against the wall.

23 And when Abigail saw David, she hasted and lighted off her ass, and fell before David on her face, and bowed herself to the ground,

24 And fell at his feet, and said, Oh, my lord, I have committed the iniquity, and I pray thee, let thine handmaid speak [p]to thee, and hear thou the words of thine handmaid.

25 Let not my lord, I pray thee, regard this wicked man, Nabal: for as his name is, so is he: [q]Nabal is his name, and folly is with him: but I thine handmaid saw not the young men of my lord whom thou sentest.

26 Now therefore my lord, as the Lord liveth, and as thy soul liveth (the Lord, I say, that hath withholden thee from coming to shed blood, and that thine [r]hand should not save thee) so now thine enemies shall be as Nabal, and they that intend to do my lord evil.

27 And now this [s]blessing which thine handmaid hath brought unto my lord, let it be given unto the young men, that [t]follow my lord.

28 I pray thee, forgive the trespass of thine handmaid: for the Lord will make my lord a [u]sure house, because my lord fighteth the battles of the Lord, and none evil hath been found in thee [v]in all thy life.

29 Yet [w]a man hath risen up to persecute thee, and to seek thy soul, but the soul of my lord shall be bound in the [x]bundle of life with the Lord thy God: and the soul of thine enemies shall God cast out, as out of the middle of a sling.

30 And when the Lord shall have done to my lord all the good that he hath promised thee, and shall have made thee ruler over Israel,

31 Then shall it be no grief unto thee, nor offence of mind unto my lord, that he hath not shed blood causeless, nor that my lord hath [y]not preserved himself: and when the Lord shall have dealt well with my lord, remember thine handmaid.

32 Then David said to Abigail, Blessed be the Lord God of Israel, which sent thee this day to meet me.

33 And blessed be thy counsel, and blessed be thou, which hast kept me this day from coming to shed blood, [z]and that mine hand hath not saved me.

34 For indeed, as the Lord God of Israel liveth, [aa]who hath kept me back from hurting thee, except thou hadst hasted and met me, surely there had not been left unto Nabal by the dawning of the day, any that pisseth against the wall.

35 Then David received of her hand that which she had brought him, and said to her, Go up in peace to thine house: behold, I have heard thy voice, and have [ab]granted thy petition.

36 ¶ So Abigail came to Nabal, and behold, he made a feast in his house, like the feast of a king, and Nabal’s heart was merry within him, for he was very drunken: wherefore she told him [ac]nothing, neither less nor more, until the morning arose.

37 Then in the morning, when the wine was gone out of Nabal, his wife told him those words, and his heart died within him, and he was like [ad]a stone.

38 And about ten days after, the Lord smote Nabal, that he died.

39 ¶ Now when David heard that Nabal was dead, he said, Blessed be the Lord, that hath [ae]judged the cause of my rebuke of the hand of Nabal, and hath kept his servant from evil: for the Lord hath recompensed the wickedness of Nabal upon his own head. Also David sent to commune with Abigail, to [af]take her to his wife.

40 And when the servants of David were come to Abigail to Carmel, they spake unto her, saying, David sent us to thee, to take thee to his wife.

41 And she arose, and bowed herself on her face to the earth, and said, Behold, let thine handmaid be a servant to wash the feet of the servants of my lord.

42 And Abigail hasted, and arose, and rode upon an ass, and her five maids [ag]followed her, and she went after the messengers of David, and was his wife.

43 David also took Ahinoam of Jezreel, and they were both his wives.

44 Now Saul had given Michal his daughter, David’s wife, to Palti the son of Laish, which was of [ah]Gallim.

Cross references:

Geneva Bible, 1599 Edition. Published by Tolle Lege Press. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, without written permission from the publisher, except in the case of brief quotations in articles, reviews, and broadcasts.

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